Paying It Forward - while OCing

Purpose of this thread is to give credence to and demonstrate the benefit of unsolicited acts of kindness as it effects the image of OCers.

Reports of giving to others by the user/member shall not be considered patting oneself on the back - simply telling a story.

OTOH - being a recipient is a way of being told "Thank you" by another.

Not counted will be cases where a friend who is a member of the club picks up the ticket.

Gather round the campfire and let the tales begin.

I have been both the recipient and the giver of more than a few RAKs (random acts of kindness).

Just recently I paid for an elderly lady's carry out meal at Golden Corral. It mattered not if she was homeless or well invested. The point desired to be made was that there are good people in the world that have no ulterior motive other than making someone's day better.

After finishing up a breakfast at Shoney's, I asked for the check only to find that a nice couple had paid the bill for me as a way of expressing their support/recognition for my responsible OCing.

In our dining experiences, many of us tend to tip better than the average customer. Such not only helps with our acceptance as OCers, but also creates a memory that indeed good service pays off.

It is unfortunate that the forum doesn't support a "like" feature because this thread would get many likes from me.

I have long been a proponent of picking up the tab, or at least a portion of the tab, for random strangers. I just like doing something nice for someone when they look like they are in dire need of having something nice happen to brighten their day.

But I also have an ulterior motive since it is difficult for someone to feel upset about seeing an openly carried gun when the guy carrying it just paid for their lunch. I think it sticks a monkey wrench in the "guns are scary and only bad people carry guns" thought process.

And, after a while of frequenting the same eateries, the minds of the staff are also loosened up about folks who carry guns.

A few years ago at a Starbucks which used to be my morning stop a pay it forward went on for over a month at the drive through window. I thought that was pretty awesome and I gladly participated, kudos to the stranger who started it all.

Grapeshot said:

I have been both the recipient and the giver of more than a few RAKs (random acts of kindness).

Just recently I paid for an elderly lady's carry out meal at Golden Corral. It mattered not if she was homeless or well invested. The point desired to be made was that there are good people in the world that have no ulterior motive other than making someone's day better.

After finishing up a breakfast at Shoney's, I asked for the check only to find that a nice couple had paid the bill for me as a way of expressing their support/recognition for my responsible OCing.

In our dining experiences, many of us tend to tip better than the average customer. Such not only helps with our acceptance as OCers, but also creates a memory that indeed good service pays off.

Click to expand...

Used to have a business card that said something along the lines of "your meal was paid for by the person with the openly carried gun". I might have to invest some money with Vis** P***t to get some made up again - it's about $5. Yes, I focus on the folks who give the stink-eye - and the parent(s) with the well-behaved kids, too.

I get in trouble when I offer to buy a meal for the folks standing on the corner with a "Will work for food" sign. I've learned some new words over the years.

stay safe.

I have been doing this for 40 years, I rarely pass a stranded motorist on the side of the road, while assisting I tell them my help is not free, I charge them with assisting 3 people they encounter. and each person they assist is to be charged with assisting 3 more and so on.

Recently I saw a guy at an auto parts store buy an alternator and go outside, as I left I saw him squatting against a pole making a cell call. I was half in my truck but something screamed "I have a problem" so I went back to him and said "You look like a guy that could use a lift". Turns out the pulley on his van's alternator came loose and stranded him about 20 miles north of Laramie and an off duty sheriff's deputy had given him a ride to the store and said he would try to get another deputy to give him a ride back to his van, but no one was free.

I gave him a ride to his van and told him that once I was injured in a fall while working (installing communications wiring) and the service truck they gave me when I started back had a faulty fuel gauge and ran out of gas at 1/4 tank. My arm was still in a sling (full thickness rotator cuff tear) under my coat and I was seriously limping from a broken pelvis and how no one would help a one armed man limping down the road in a snow storm with a gas can, so I do not pass someone in distress.

When we got to the truck, I had to make a U turn through the interstate median and as I pulled up behind his van he said I had made a change in him and from then on he would not pass by someone in trouble. I said "Good because my help is not free, you owe me helping 3 people and each is to be charged with helping 3 more and so on". He said "YEA! Pay it forward, like in the movie, I'm gonna help more than 3 and pass it on".

I really don't think I could count the number of people I have helped and charged with helping 3 more, I have no way of knowing if they all did, but maybe a few actually paid it forward.

skidmark said:

Used to have a business card that said something along the lines of "your meal was paid for by the person with the openly carried gun". I might have to invest some money with Vis** P***t to get some made up again - it's about $5. Yes, I focus on the folks who give the stink-eye - and the parent(s) with the well-behaved kids, too.

I get in trouble when I offer to buy a meal for the folks standing on the corner with a "Will work for food" sign. I've learned some new words over the years.

stay safe.

Click to expand...

Yea, I use to be a partner in a company that installed and maintained business communications equipment, I was doing an install and really could use some help. I offered one of those guys to buy him lunch and pay him $10 an hour to help, boy did I get told off!!

F350 said:

Yea, I use to be a partner in a company that installed and maintained business communications equipment, I was doing an install and really could use some help. I offered one of those guys to buy him lunch and pay him $10 an hour to help, boy did I get told off!!

Click to expand...

f350...i never stop to assist those on the side of the road cuz, in my world, automobiles, flying machines and other items operate under the FM principle! as for automobiles, i know how to get in, know where to insert the key to start the beastie and then know how to put it into gitty up and go!

for those standing on street corners...i purchase McD's gift cards normally in the amount of 5-7$ and hand them out with the receipt so at least i know they have been given sustenance and not used the $$ for something inappropriate to their welfare ~ smokes, booze, drugs, etc. yes i know the mentality that these could and prob are traded but whomever ultimately ends up with the card, they at least can feed themselves or those under their care.

if the weather if cold/freezing i up the amount to 10$ to be able to buy something more than once.

been known to get an edible arrangement for an olde phart who was in need of pranking...

ipse

Look at profile> all recent posts nonsensical> likely compromised old account> document> delete posts> perma ban account. That's how it's done boys.

Now, where were we?

Ah yes. Come to think of it, I've had meals generously purchased for me because I was openly carrying on at least two separate occasions. It was a humbling experience, I am very grateful for the support and generosity I was shown on those occasions. I also appreciate this thread reminding me of that generosity and reminding me to pass it on to others.

Grapeshot said:

In our dining experiences, many of us tend to tip better than the average customer. Such not only helps with our acceptance as OCers, but also creates a memory that indeed good service pays off.

Click to expand...

This is Truth!!
My Sweet Baboo and I tend to "tip well" to be remembered. Good service, good food, always gets better, and they remember the "nice gun people".

As for TAKs, I believe in Karma, it has been a base for my life. What I do, I keep to myself because it makes it better for me. YMMV

MSG Laigaie said:

This is Truth!!
My Sweet Baboo and I tend to "tip well" to be remembered. Good service, good food, always gets better, and they remember the "nice gun people".

As for TAKs, I believe in Karma, it has been a base for my life. What I do, I keep to myself because it makes it better for me. YMMV

Click to expand...

Totally sort of off topic.

The cops stopped people from feeding the needy and hungry last winter, I think we should help them out this year if we can find the group who was harassed by the PD last year. OR we just do it ourselves.

sudden valley gunner said:

Totally sort of off topic.

The cops stopped people from feeding the needy and hungry last winter, I think we should help them out this year if we can find the group who was harassed by the PD last year. OR we just do it ourselves.

Click to expand...

Not really off topic - accept that thought train as an aside, qualifies as an unsolicited act of kindness.

Grapeshot said:

Not really off topic - accept that thought train as an aside, qualifies as an unsolicited act of kindness.

Click to expand...

True dat. The thread did pop the idea back into my head that had been brewing.

A couple of weeks ago while walking back from the grocery store (OC of course), I saw someone with a sign that said "hungry, will accept anything rather than steal" at the entrance to the lot. I provided whatever spare change I had on me and wished them the best. The way I see it, I gave them the chance to help themselves. What they do with charity is up to them.

MSG Laigaie said:

This is Truth!!
My Sweet Baboo and I tend to "tip well" to be remembered. Good service, good food, always gets better, and they remember the "nice gun people".

As for TAKs, I believe in Karma, it has been a base for my life. What I do, I keep to myself because it makes it better for me. YMMV

Click to expand...

I have seen Sarge do this on multiple occasions. One thing he fails to mention is that he always includes at least one crisp, completely legal tender $2 bill. I am sure that he is not soon forgotten.

sudden valley gunner said:

Totally sort of off topic.

The cops stopped people from feeding the needy and hungry last winter, I think we should help them out this year if we can find the group who was harassed by the PD last year. OR we just do it ourselves.

Click to expand...

I recall a time or two when someone OCing wandered about watching the folks handing out bag lunches to the homeless. Happened during a time when the city wanted to use the cops to close down the activity. IIRC on both occasions the cops diverted from harassing the feed-the-homeless folks and followed the OCer - no overt harassment as they had learned their lesson previously, but quite a nice feeling having one's own security detail.

By all means volunteer to help hand out food to the homeless. You may find that bit of positive karma helpful later on.

stay safe.

acmariner99 said:

.... What they do with charity is up to them.

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Snapped this one on the way home a few weeks ago. Not the best camera perspective, but you can make out what it says.

Liberty-or-Death said:

Snapped this one on the way home a few weeks ago. Not the best camera perspective, but you can make out what it says.

Click to expand...

:lol: Lack of beverage alert - christened the keyboard.

skidmark said:

I recall a time or two when someone OCing wandered about watching the folks handing out bag lunches to the homeless. Happened during a time when the city wanted to use the cops to close down the activity. IIRC on both occasions the cops diverted from harassing the feed-the-homeless folks and followed the OCer - no overt harassment as they had learned their lesson previously, but quite a nice feeling having one's own security detail.

By all means volunteer to help hand out food to the homeless. You may find that bit of positive karma helpful later on.

stay safe.

Click to expand...

+1

That is our feelings and hopes too.

solus said:

f350...i never stop to assist those on the side of the road cuz, in my world, automobiles, flying machines and other items operate under the FM principle! as for automobiles, i know how to get in, know where to insert the key to start the beastie and then know how to put it into gitty up and go!

Click to expand...

Don't have to be a master mechanic to give someone a ride so they aren't stranded along the road.

Once I waited with 3 young women (headed home after a wedding) at dusk along I-70 until friends behind them got there to give them a ride home. They told me they were scared because women break down on the interstate and are never seen again frequently and were relieved to see I had the wife with me and I was armed. All were over 21 so I referred them to a buddy who was a firearms trainer in their home town and advised them all to get their CCWs. Charged all three with helping three more, BUT not to stop along the highway, I do because I'm armed and prepared to use it, they could find other ways.

Saw one of those 1970-80s custom vans along the highway in the middle of the winter, a mile later saw a guy walking wearing just a light jacket, slacks and dress shoes, it was near zero with a 30 mph wind. I picked him up, his gas gauge didn't work and he ran out of gas while taking his mother to the doctor, took him to the next gas station where he got a can of gas and took him back to the van. It was freezing inside and his elderly mother was wrapped in some blankets but still shivering, so I got four body warmers from my winter survival bag and put one between her shoulder blades, one at her kidneys, one at her stomach and one at her feet.

She blessed me a dozen times and said I was an angel sent by God to save her..... Insisted I take a Saint Christopher medal (patron saint of travelers) not much of a believer but I still have it.

No mechanical skills needed, just a helping hand.